In July, D Magazine's Nancy Nichols noted that former Commissary chef John Tesar had mysteriously disappeared from Dallas. Savvy commenters on Nichols' post noted that Tesar had been spotted in Seattle, where Top Chef -- which hates revealing its seasons' location prematurely but is always spotted before it can release an official announcement -- was accurately rumored to be filming.
Tesar, who has been working most of the year to open a new restaurant, Spoon, in Dallas, seems like a natural for the show -- after all D Magazine ran a print cover story calling him The Most Hated Chef in Dallas, and the combination of high talent and prickly personality is just made for reality TV.
And after Top Chef Texas did all it could to reinforce Texas stereotypes, I'm hoping Tesar will bust some of those down. OK, so he's not a native, and he's only been in Dallas since 2006. But a lot of us aren't natives, and reality TV seems to believe that everyone in DFW was born riding a horse when most of us are stuck cursing in traffic jams, so his stereotype-busting counts.
Tesar is not the only Dallas representative during the Seattle season. Danyele McPherson, sous chef at the Grape, is also in the cast. Judging from this interview with The Dallas Observer's Lauren Drewes Daniels in May, McPherson -- a 31-year-old who came to Dallas a few years ago to work for Stephan Pyles -- is also prime reality-TV material.
UPDATE: Per CraveDFW, Joshua Valentine, identified in Bravo press materials as being from Oklahoma City, also has Dallas connections: "[He] has been hired on as Matt McCallister’s pastry chef at FT33, which will also open very soon. Valentine has worked at Stephen Pyles, Samar and Local." Find out more about Valentine here.
Top Chef: Seattle premieres at 9 p.m. CT Nov. 7 on Bravo.
